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Storyboard
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Lesson plan
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Retrospective reflections on
sessions
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Session 1
21st July 2011
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- Introduction to the task of explanatory animation
creation. (The Explanatory
Animation Framework is not listed here as that
would be too much information at this early stage).
- File saving conventions. (i.e. concept name with date
suffix).
- Introduction to PowerPoint 'insert duplicate slide'
function to create various slides.
- Time set aside for recording prior
knowledge videos.
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The students were very attentive during
the initial focus session. I was careful not to talk for
too long as the children wanted to get started as soon
as possible.
I must not have explained the
voice-over script clearly as many children thought that
the voice-over script simply a transcript of their prior
knowledge video.
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Session 2
28th July 2011
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- Distinguishing between the director's commentary genre
and that of the voice-over script.
- Reminder that children do not need to ask me for
permission for their ideas or plans as this project
seeks to track the decisions and progress that they
make. (n.b This might seems obvious but there were
several such questions during the first session).
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During the first session I had spread the children
out as much as possible including the two smaller
rooms off to the side. This was because the 2010 class
was very chatty.
This class is only half the size and the children
seem to be much more productive. I now have them in
the same big room so that they can hear the
interactions that I have with the other children.
These discussions could be seen as a distraction but
I believe they can be a catalyst for the children to
look at their own topics from different angles and
perspectives.
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Session 3
11th August 2011
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- Demo of students work from Storyboard
web site. (This is a gentle reminder to the group that
their work is being published. The main area I would
like to see improvement in is their voice-over texts as
these must be in the 3rd person).
- Additional reminder about the distinction between
voice-over script and director's commentaries.
- Introduction to concept maps.
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The children already knew about concept maps.
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Session 4
18th August 2011
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- Demonstrate the reverse engineering approach to
graphics. This involves drawing an image with the
required detail and then erasing parts which are then
saved as separate images. There are two benefits from
this technique:
- It is faster to erase than it is to draw.
- Sufficient detail is included in the first instance.
The alternative to this is where a student decides that
they need to add more detail and then have to add it to
every slide.
- Stability of the image is maintained as there is no
risk of the position of object being moved
unintentionally.
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Only 5 out of 8 children recorded commentaries as we
ran out of time. Director's commentaries could start
being recorded any time after the teaching focus has
concluded.
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Session 5
25th August 2011
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- Review file saving conventions
- Explain macroconcepts
- Discuss representations
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During this session I promised the children who
didn't have internet access that I would arrange
different computers for them from now on.
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Session 6
1st September 2011
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- Explain my definition of a concept
- Explain paraphrase
I see similarities between concepts and
paraphrasing in that they both identify key information.
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None of the children knew about paraphrasing but they
seemed to pick it up quickly. I used comedy as an
example where comedians twist or invert some point in
a story for comedic effect. My specific example was
from 20 minutes before the session when a colleague
asked me in the staffroom: 'How many sleeps until the
Circus show?' (that I'm working on for our annual
production). The real answer would have been 12 but I
said 'None'.
After the session I concluded that the specific
advice or feedback I have for each student should be
shared during the focus session in front of the class.
This would be beneficial for 3 reasons:
- I can't forget or run out of time.
- These instructions have some relevance to the
other students.
- I can proceed immediately with recording
director's commentaries as these always take longer
than I think.
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Session 7
8th September 2011
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- Explain new lesson structure with feedback during the
focus session as follows:
Cell duplication - Investigate chromosomes,
Transitional imagery.
Chemical reactions - Decide on whether to specialise
Electromagnetic fields - How do the LCDs work?
Hair - Cross-section, close-up imagery.
Satellites - How many satellites are needed to transmit
a signal around the world?
Sol Feige - Fix the grid
Solar panels - View other animations about how
photovoltaic cells
Stadium design - Soundproofing recommendations?
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Providing feedback to each student during the focus
session is a definite improvement. I will continue to
start each session in this manner.
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Session 8
22nd September 2011
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Cell duplication - Consolidate chromosomes
Chemical bonds - Mention molecules and suggest
'Molecules' or "Molecular chemistry" as a title.
Hair - Commence cross-sectional imagery.
Satellites - Continue investigation of the question
about the number of satellites required for a global
transmission.
Stadium design - Mention bass traps and reflective
panels.
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I has anticipated that the three Grade 5 students
would be absent due to the Grade 5 camp. The 'Chemical
bonds' student was also absent leaving only 4 out of 8
students.
This was actually beneficial in terms of providing me
with more time to spend with the remaining students. I
has a very long interaction with the Grade 6 girl who
was working on 'Cell duplication'. By the end of this
interaction she had changed her topic to 'Stringed instruments'.
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Session 9
14th October 2011
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Electromagnetic fields - Suggest an electric motor as a
suitable visualisation instead of LCD screens.
Hair - Commence cross-sectional imagery of the actual
hair shaft.
Satellites - Reminder that transmission signals travel
in straight lines.
Solar panels - Encourage student to identify the
various layers in a solar panel.
Sol feige - Discuss making the grid angled with
ascending pitch.
Stringed instruments - Share formula for determining
frequency and discuss animating the formula.
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This was a Friday session instead of
our regular Thursday due to 'Planning week'. It was nice
to be able to write these reflections immediately after
the Storyboard
session instead of immediately transitioning to leading
a rehearsal with our school orchestra.
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Session 10
20th October 2011
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- Mention the terms 'tweening' and 'keyframes'.
- Remind students that we will be syncing video to audio
so they should remember to focus on their voice-over
scripts.
Chemical bonds - Suggest that just covering the naming
of molecules might be a more manageable topic.
Electromagnetic fields - Confirm the essential elements
of an electric motor. Discuss the option of renaming
title to 'Electric motors'.
Hair - Commence cross-sectional imagery of the actual
hair shaft.
Satellites - Remove references to satellites which are
communicating with each other because they are not
configured properly or are not part of the same network.
Solar panels - Suggestion that the handful of layers
which belong in a solar panel are not merely shown and
explained but rather explained as they are successively
added. In this manner the animation would literally
build a solar panel.
Sol feige - Discuss black and white notes and how they
have no relevance to major and minor keys.
Stringed instruments - Commence voice-over script to
determine the order of the variables.
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Return to earlier approach where individual advice
and recommendations are given individually rather than
during initial focus time.
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Session 11
27th October 2011
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Electromagnetic fields -
Molecular naming conventions -
Solar panels -
Stringed instruments - Ask her to use my laptop from
now on.
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A class size of 3 or 4 is ideal.
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Session 12
3rd November 2011
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Electromagnetic fields - Define scope of animation.
How does hair grow? (Absent)
Molecular naming conventions - Complete conventions.
Satellites - Discuss 'Fat Jeffery' in terms of the
problem of straight lines and a round globe.
Solar panels -
Sol feige - Complete voice-over script so we can
commence generating appropriate imagery. Discuss how we
could simulate flight (looping background imagery such
as clouds).
Stadium design - 'Pong' game visualisation idea.
Stringed instruments -
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Today I shared how the 8 mini case studies fit
together as an additional research story:
Topic
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Example
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How does hair grow?
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Concepts definitions
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Molecular naming conventions
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Naming is arbitrary. Representation is
functional
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Stadium design
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Scope and sequence
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Satellites
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Eliminate non essentials
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Electromagnetic fields
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Gestalt theory
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Solar panels
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'Building' the imagery
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Stringed instruments
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Pedagogical values
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Sol Feige
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Evidence
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Session 13
10th November 2011
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Electromagnetic fields -
How does hair grow? (Absent)
Molecular naming conventions -
Satellites -
Solar panels -
Sol feige -
Stadium design -
Stringed instruments -
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Only the Grade 6 students attended this
session as the Grade 5 children had a guest speaker come
for a Sex Education class. It was quite productive
having a smaller group.
I ended up having additional sessions
with two of the Grade 5 children on Monday 14th and one
Grade 5 student on Wednesday 16th.
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Session 14
17th November 2011
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Electromagnetic fields - Imagery required for electric
motor.
How does hair grow? (Absent)
Molecular naming conventions - Highlight colour.
Preview of voice-over track draft.
Satellites - Uplink and downlinks. Black background.
Solar panels - I didn't see this
student as he was absent. My own understanding of
photovoltaic cells firmed up when I learnt to look at
the NP junction as it functions rather than the
component parts. Based on this perspective, a more
interesting topic could report the efficiency and
inherent limitations of the cell with the revised title
'Solar
cell efficiency'.
Sol feige - Windows.
Stadium design - 'Pong' imagery first concluding with
Newton's cradle.
Stringed instruments - Sruti box. Highlight colour.
Title fonts and colours.
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50% of the voice-over scripts have now been recorded.
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Session 15
1st December 2011
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How does hair grow? - additional questions about
variables such as colour and texture.
Satellites - geosynchronous orbit?
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Creation of b files (i.e. expanded versions where I
edit content and save as original name with a 'b' for
Brendan suffix.
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Session 16
8th December 2011
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Timetabled 3 Storyboard
sessions:.
Tue: Solar cell efficiency.
Wed: Hair, Electromagnetic fields, Sol Feige.
Thurs: Molecular naming conventions, Satellites,
Stadium design, Stringed instruments.
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Creation of table matching voice-over script with
imagery.
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Session 17
15th December 2011
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Debriefing
session
Electromagnetic fields -
How hair grows (22/12/11)
Molecular naming conventions -
Satellites (22/12/11)
Sol feige -
Solar cell efficiency-
Stadium design -
Stringed instruments -
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I realise now that there was no way I
could have conducted interviews during this one hour
session and still had time to record the final
director's commentaries. This became apparent almost
immediately so we were able to continue filming the
debriefing session while children wrote what they might
say in their director's commentaries in dot points.
Interviews were originally one of the
12 sources of data. I have since changed this to be
Voice-over script / imagery tables which arose during
the second last session as a checklist for imagery in
preparation for the video editing process.
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